Combustion engine



July 27, 1965 w, W R 3,196,856

COMBUSTION ENGINE Filed April 29, 1965 Rica 3..

INVENTOR.

WALTER VV/vao form/20 D. OBIQ/AA/ United States Patent Filed Apr. 29, 1963, 8a. No. 276,532 1 Claim. (@i. 123-116) This invention relates to improvements in combustion engines adapted to operate upon compressible gas.

In the past rotary machines have used vanes which move out from a rotor to engage in a stator. Normally the stator is non-circular, but in some applications circular stators are used. This machinery is used for the compression of gas and when a non-circular stator is used, two cycles of compression and discharge can be accomplished in a single turn of the rotor. Furthermore, this permits balance of the rotor Within the stator. This configuration is also useful in rotary engines where an intake portion is provided for drawing in a combustible mixture, the combustible mixture is ignited and then a power stroke occurs. This sort of machinery has been ineflicient due to leakage past the vanes mounted on the rotor. This invention is directed to improving sealing means so that this type of machinery will operate more efficiently.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to improve sealing means for rotary engines.

It is another object of this invention to improve the efliciency of rotary machinery by reducing leakage past the vanes therein.

It is another object of this invention to improve the sealing between the vanes and the stator both in the radial direction and in the axial direction of the rotary machinery.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent from study of the attached specification and drawings in which: 7

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of an engine embodying my invention;

FIGURE 2 is a partial section through the engine taken along the line 22 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a partial section taken along the line 3-3 of FIGURE 2; and

FIGURE 4 is an expanded perspective view of two of the vanes of my invention.

Referring now to the drawings, a combustion engine It) embodying my invention is shown in FIGURE 1. The engine comprises a series of structural members secured together by means of screws 12. The particular structural members will be described in greater detail hereinafter. The shaft end plate 14 carries a boss 16 for mounting of the engine. Shaft 18 extends therefrom and it is used for the extraction of power.

This particular engine is designed for two areas of compression, and two areas of combustion, power and exhaust. The first carburetor 20 is mounted on the intake manifold 22 to supply a combustible mixture of fuel and air to the engine. The fuel could be either volatile liquid or gaseous. The second carburetor 24 is similarly mounted to supply the other intake section of the engine, but if preferred a single carburetor and suitable manifolding could be provided to supply both of the intake sections. Alternatively to carburetion, continuous spray injection of liquid fuel could be employed at the end of compression. An exhaust pipe 26 is provided to carry the exhaust away from the engine. A similar pipe is provided on the other side of the engine, out of view of FIGURE 1, and both could be manifolded together, if desired.

Referring now more particularly to FIGURE 3, the shaft 18 is shown mounted in bearings 28 and 3t]. Bearing 39 is mounted in the shaft end plate 14, and the bearing 28 is mounted in a similar rear plate 32. Carried on the shaft 18 is a rotor 34 and mounted on the sides of rotor 34 are front cover plate 36 and rear cover plate 38. Rear cover plate 38 has an annular recess 40 in which is contained a sealing slip ring 42. The slip ring 42 is preferably made of brass or cast iron, and it is spring loaded to the right by means of spring 43 in suitable spring pockets as is shown in FIGURE 3. A hook 44 retains the slip ring 42 in position. The front cover plate 36 is similarly provided with a slip ring and slip ring retaining means and urging spring. Shaft end plate 14- carries a ring 416, which has a lip 48 extending against the slip ring. Similarly rear plate 32 carries an annular ring 5% which has a lip 52 extending down against slip ring 42. The slip rings bear against the rotor, the hooks on the cover plates and lips on the rings, thus making a good seal between the rotor and the stator.

Between the rings 46 and 5t) is secured a main ring 54. The shaft end plate 14, ring 46, main ring 54, ring 5t! and rear plate 32 are secured together by means of the aforementioned screws 12. As is more clearly shown in FIGURE 2, the main ring 54 has an inner surface 56 against which vanes mounted in the rotor 34 bear. The main ring 54 has an aperture 58 for intake of the combustible fuel-air mixture. At 60 the inner surface 56 is farther away from shaft axis to permit the vanes to extend outwardly from the rotor. This causes an intake action for drawing carbureted gas into the engine. The aperture 58 is connected to the intake manifold 22 and thereby to carburetor 26. A compression section is provided at 62 where the inner surface 56 is progressively radially closer to the shaft 18. After compression, the compressed combustible mixture is ignited by glow plug 64. Serrations in the form of saw teeth are provided on the portions of the inner surface 56 away from the intake and compression sections. These serrations are identified by number 66. The serrations aid sealing because of the line contact they present to the top surface of the hereinafter described vanes. Similarly the rotor 34 is provided around its entire circumference with saw teeth or serrations d8. These serrations, particularly acting in cooperation with the serrations 66 prevent laminar flow of gas and accordingly increase the pressure drop and reduce the leakage flow from one section of the engine to another.

Similarly, the main ring 54 has an increased radius area 69 where the vanes can extend from the rotor 34 to provide an expansion section to utilize the energy in the hot high pressure gas. The expansion section is followed by a section of decreasing radius 71 where the spent gas is exhausted through exhaust ports 73. These ports 73 are connected to exhause pipe 26.

The rotor 34 is provided with slots 70. In each of the slots 70, a pair of vanes 72 and 74 is mounted. As best seen in FIGURE 3, the vanes 72 and 74 are supported, and urged outwardly, by means of three springs 76, '78 and 8t). The springs '76 and 8t bear upon the bottom of the slot 70 and on the under part of the vanes '72 and 74. However, the spring 78 bears between the bottom of the slot 70 and the bottom of a truncated wedge 82. As is best seen in FIGURE 4, the vanes 72 have a surface 84 corresponding to the left side of wedge 82, and vane 74 has a surface 86 corresponding to the right-hand side of wedge 82. The vane 72 is relieved at 88, and vane 74 is relieved at 90 so that these relieved areas do not bear upon the wedge 82.

It is clearly seen that the spring 78, in urging the wedge 82 against the surfaces 84 and 86, both urges the vanes 72 and 74 outwardly from the slot 70, and urges vane 72 to the left, as seen in FIGURE 4, and vane 74 to the right. This urging improves sealing along the ends of the vanes as well as along the top of the vanes bearing against the inner surface 56.

Improved sealing is thus accomplished by this invention by providing the sealing slip ring 42 and its companion to seal along the section between the ends of the vane and the top edge of the rotor. Sealing is aided along the top edge of the vane by the saw tooth serration 66 by providing line contact, and flow of gas is additionally impeded by the provision of saw teeth or serrations 68 so that flow of gas is turbulent and thus reduced. Sealing is also aided by the provision of wedge 82 to thrust the vanes 72 and 74 axially as well as outwardly so that good sealing appears between all relatively moving parts of this engine.

It is readily appreciated that while this invention is directed to a rotary combustion engine as its preferred embodiment, the sealing principles disclosed herein are equally applicable to other types of rotary machinery. They are particularly suitable for gas compressors, and gas motors but liquid pumps can equally benefit from the teachings hereof. Accordingly, numerous embodiments are within the contemplation of this invention and within the scope of routine engineering skill. Accordingly, the following claim, rather than the preferred embodiment, disclosed, defines the scope of this invention.

I claim:

A rotary internal combustion engine, said rotary internal combustion engine having rotor means and a stator;

said stator including a shaft end plate and a rear plate,

bearing means in each of each shaft end plate and said rear plate, said bearing means defining the rotary axis of said rotary internal combustion engine, first and second seal rings positioned between said plates and a main ring positioned between said first and second seal rings, screws passing through said plates, said seal rings and said main ring to secure them with respect to each other, said seal rings each having a lip extending toward said axis and concentric with said axis, said main ring having surfaces concentric about said axis and surfaces other than concentric about said axis, said surfaces concentric about said axis being provided with serrations extending thereacross parallel to said axis and extending from one seal ring to the other seal ring, said surfaces which are other than concentric about said axis being relatively smooth and defining at least one compression section and at least one expansion section, one of said concentric sections provided with serrations being positioned between said compression section and said expansion section, and igniter means positioned in said stator and in open communication to said concentric section between said compression section and said expansion section; said rotor means comprising a shaft rotatably mounted in said bearing means in said stator so that said shaft rotates about said axis, a rotor mounted on said shaft for rotation about said axis, said rotor having a plurality of radial slots, first and second vanes mounted in each of said radial slots, each of said vanes having an outer edge and end edges, spring means between said rotor and said vanes urging said vanes against said concentric and said other than concentric surfaces of said stator and urging each of said vanes so that one of said end edges of each of said vanes is urged against one of said seal rings, said spring means including a spring in each of said radial slots, a wedge having inclined surfaces, said wedge being in engagement with said spring so that said Wedge is urged radially outwardly, an inclined surface on each of said vanes, said wedge engaging with said inclined surfaces on said first and second vanes in the same slot with said wedge so that said wedge urges each of said vanes both axially and radially, further spring means including first and second additional springs positioned in each of said slots and in engagement with said rotor and with said vanes in each of said slots to urge said vanes radially, said rotor having an outer surface substantially concentric about said axis, said outer surface having serrations extending parallel to said axis from one end of said rotor to the other, said outer surface of said rotor being in close proximity to said concentric serrated surfaces of said stator, front and rear cover plates on said rotor means and positioned against said rotor and mounted on said shaft for rotation with said rotor, each of said cover plates extending radially outwardly and terminating in a hook concentric with said axis, each of said hooks being positioned adjacent one of said seal ring lips, a sealing ring positioned under each of said hooks and in engagement with its cover plate and with said adjacent seal ring lip so that said stator and said rotor means are sealed with respect to each other.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1/36 Haller et a1. 123-16 5/42 Gross 12316 FOREIGN PATENTS JOSEPH H. BRANSON, JR., Primary Examiner.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3,196,856 July 27, 1965 Walter Ward It is hereby certified that error appears in the above numbered patent requiring correction and that the said Letters Patent should read as corrected below.

Column 3, line 31, for "each", second occurrence, read said Signed and sealed this 15th day of March 1966.

(SEAL) Attest:

ERNEST W. SWIDER EDWARD J. BRENNER Lttesting Officer Commissioner of Patents 

